Test Drive that Lexus: Atari offers new, free content for TDU

Atari and Lexus have teamed up to offer new downloadable content for Test …

One of the great advantages, in my view, of the Xbox 360 over previous generations of game consoles is the integration with Xbox Live, and the fact that game developers can offer downloadable content in order to expand their games without the gamer having to run to the store to buy an expansion pack.

Project Gotham Racing 3 has taken advantage of this, by offering new packs of cars every few months, thus breathing a little new life into what was quite a short game. Well, PGR3 and Bizarre Creations aren't the only people with that idea. Atari's MMO driving game, Test Drive Unlimited, is getting into the DLC game following a tie-up with Lexus.

Gamers will be able to download the Lexus GS 450h (their mid-level hybrid) and the barge-like LS 460, and what's more, they're free. Other Lexus models will be made available later this year.

It's a nice move, offering the cars for free, but to me it smacks of just more marketing from a game that is already too ad-heavy; I know that games can be expensive to produce these days, but most developers don't manage to make the experience feel like an infomercial. TDU did.

Meanwhile, the countdown clock on my wall reads ~1 month to Forza Motorsport II, a game that Turn 10 have promised will be kept alive with fresh cars and new tracks via DLC. I'm literally counting the days.

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